I grew up in Issaquah, Washington, just east of Seattle. Knowing that helps explain my lifelong devotion to the sports teams the Mariners, Seahawks, and Sounders, despite now having lived in Colorado for the past 24 years. Each year I make the return trip home, where my family still resides, and soak in the sweet nostalgia that comes with a return to one’s roots. It’s wild the way that works. Driving around the old town brings up all these distant memories that hadn’t risen to the surface in decades…somewhere around here I got that speeding ticket…over on that exact field I played hundreds of hours of soccer eons ago…I remember so many things, many of them pleasant.
And while this trip was highlighted by my opening act at the famed Triple Door (opening for the Jacob Joliff band who blew my mind!), and picking blackberries right outside the front door of my brother’s house, the real gift of the trip, as usual, included humans.
My family of origin is relatively small; my mother lost her only brother when she was a teenager, and my Dad is one of four who have not stayed close. Growing up it was my mom, brother and me, plus weekends with Dad after they split. But there’s something about quality over quantity, and when there’s only a few of you (at least in our case), you lean on each other, becoming extraordinarily close.
My family is awesome, and I say that knowing how many people don’t feel that same way about their own families. But when I’m around my brother, especially and family in general, we laugh a lot. The love is palpable, the inside jokes go way back, and the wittiness among the clan never ceases to amaze me. Even our collective kids - now 18, 21, and nearly 23 - have taken up the baton and have razor-sharp senses of humor. And as much time as we spend laughing together, the reservoir that is my heart is simultaneously filling to capacity. The family love, the nostalgia of the area, coupled with the sheer beauty of the surrounding forest and hills, there’s nothing like it. I don’t know that I want to live in that area - the traffic alone is enough to dissuade me - but it sure is nice to come home.